How to Mess Up Your Company Culture

Successful small business owners know that building a company culture is key to growing their business. While it is something that takes a long time to build, a series of small mistakes can mess it up overnight. Here is how:

1. You always think you know better. You almost never consult them for their feedback. You think that you know what is best for the company and all the employees in it. While a leader should never pretend that a company is a democracy, they should always solicit feedback from those that can have important input and have a stake in the outcome.

2. You keep secrets. You don’t share the financial results, major customer changes or personnel moves with anyone. They typically learn what happens through rumors or after the fact. This leaves your management team blindsided and powerless. If they are to lead people, this will hurt their credibility. I once worked as a senior executive inside a company of 200 people. Everyone knew that only the CEO made any real decisions. Whenever I gave out a raise or a bonus, the employee would ask me to thank the CEO for it since he knew that is where the company’s power base was. It always hurt my ability to manage my team.

3. You never communicate face to face. You spend too much time locked in your own office on business trips with investors, customer or vendors. You would rather send a brief email or worse, you record a video to send to your employees. To build culture, team members want to see and hear their owner in person. Don’t ever miss a chance to do that.

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